1. The Wishing Tree, Sunset Beach Series #2
    Marybeth Whalen
    Zondervan / 2013 / Trade Paperback
    Our Price$16.19 Retail Price$17.99 Save 10% ($1.80)
    3.9 out of 5 stars for The Wishing Tree, Sunset Beach Series #2. View reviews of this product. 9 Reviews
    Availability: In Stock
    Stock No: WW334881
3.9 Stars Out Of 5
3.9 out of 5
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(1)
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Quality:
3.8 out Of 5
(3.8 out of 5)
Value:
3.8 out Of 5
(3.8 out of 5)
Meets Expectations:
3.7 out Of 5
(3.7 out of 5)
89%
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  1. Cheryl
    Prospect,KY
    Age: 45-54
    Gender: female
    4 Stars Out Of 5
    The Wishing Tree
    June 11, 2013
    Cheryl
    Prospect,KY
    Age: 45-54
    Gender: female
    Quality: 4
    Value: 4
    Meets Expectations: 4
    Nothing seems to be going well in Ivy Marshall's world, in fact things seem to be totally out of her control. Her father has just announced that her branch of the family business is closing. Her sister has been proposed to on national television and appears to have everything Ivy didn't have. And to top it off, the relationship with her husband is going downhill at a spiraling rate. Putting aside her life, or perhaps to escape it, Ivy returns to the family's beach home to help plan her sister's wedding and perhaps rekindle an old relationship. Is Ivy ready to throw away her past or is it possible for her to forgive her husband and renew the love they once had?

    This the the second book I have read by Marybeth Whalen, the first being The Guest Book. A beach escape is just what the doctor ordered for summer so, since I can't make the trip, Marybeth has taken me there through her writings about a beach area very similar to the one I went to growing up. The Wishing Tree is a sweet story of forgiveness, mending relationships and loving others in spite of past hurts and failures. Put this one on your list of summer reads!

    I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way obligated to leave a positive review.
  2. i blog 4 books
    3 Stars Out Of 5
    Sweet, Southern Story
    July 8, 2013
    i blog 4 books
    I'll be honest. Several days after finishing The Wishing Tree by Marybeth Whalen, I still have mixed feelings about the book. The premise was good–a couple who realizes after 5 years of marriage that things are not going as they had hoped and separate after the husband strays. When the wife reconnects with her former fiancé, she's torn between the past and working out her marriage in the present. Plus, I enjoyed my "trip" to the Outer Banks and would love to visit in person.

    However, the story plays out in such a way that I really felt cheated by the ending. There's so much angst–and so little communication!!!–between Ivy and Elliott and Ivy and her mom and Ivy and her sister and Ivy and Michael and Ivy and April. But then as things finally began to resolve, the scenes were only marginally described, alluded to, and/or completely left out. Honestly, after 250 pages of angst, I needed to read the resolutions. Plus, the end left the readers with a "possibility" of resolution but no real certainty of what would happen between Ivy and one of the characters.

    Additionally, Ivy got on my very last nerve. I thought she was immature and bratty most of the time. It might have helped to understand more of what happened 5 years prior. Unfortunately, though, we didn't get to really read about all of that–and what I read sort of left me thinking she was just immature then too.

    I REALLY liked Shea (Ivy's sister) and Leah (Ivy's aunt). I would be very interested in reading their stories in the future! AND I loved the tradition of the wishing tree. If I had read this before getting married, I probably would have had one at my wedding.

    Despite my mixed feelings, I am glad I stuck with the book. Overall, it was a nice story and a good one-time read. [3 stars]

    I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.
  3. Casey
    Oregon
    3 Stars Out Of 5
    The Wishing Tree
    June 30, 2013
    Casey
    Oregon
    Quality: 2
    Value: 2
    Meets Expectations: 2
    As a reader, I couldn't help but feel great sympathy for Ivy and disregard for Elliott who has just committed an affair before the book starts. So often when I read these kinds of scenarios, I ponder what I would do. Would I become passive? Cold? Run away? Cut my spouse off? I certainly can't judge Ivy for the decisions she made to leave, to find space to think.

    But poor girl, jumps from one frying pan into another. And doesn't always make the best decisions. I will admit that after a while Ivy's attitude toward her marriage and her family became tiresome. It wasn't overt to the point that I wanted to stop reading...I simply found repetitiveness in lack of communication with her family and lack of circumstances to propel her further down her journey, redundant. Much of the story "told" me what happened and I wasn't as present within the story as I love to be.

    My favorite character as the story progressed? Elliott. And you'll have to read the book to find out why. But the way this man fought for his wife and their marriage...plus the whole Twitter thing too was pretty sweet and an obvious step outside his comfort zone.

    Overall, good women's fiction with romantic elements and great points to take and learn much as the characters do.

    This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.
  4. Teddy G
    Age: 35-44
    Gender: female
    2 Stars Out Of 5
    I didn't love it
    June 23, 2013
    Teddy G
    Age: 35-44
    Gender: female
    Quality: 3
    Value: 3
    Meets Expectations: 2
    Ivy Marshall left Sunset Beach, North Carolina, five years ago, turning her back on everything that her family expected of her, and assuming they slammed the doors behind her. Now, the husband she left everything behind for has cheated on her, and so Ivy decides to use the excuse of helping her sister, Shea, with her televised wedding as a reason to run away from Elliott and return home to her family, her childhood memories, and...her ex-fiancee. Can she mend fences within her family while she's here? Can she re-fan an old flame? As she is asked to work on Shea's Wishing Tree, an old family wedding tradition, Ivy is forced to face her own wishes for the wedding she never had, and try to figure out what wishes she has for her future.

    This book did not wow me. Ivy, as the main character, drove me a little crazy. For most of the book, she is so focused on reconnecting with Michael, her ex-fiancee, and ignoring Elliott, that she's not even trying to evaluate how she's gotten where she is. She unceremoniously dumped Michael 5 years ago for Elliott, and now she's equally quick to want to switch back. There is no sense of her even wondering if this is the right thing for her to do. She eventually comes to realize that she needs to be forgiven as much as she needs to extend forgiveness, but it was hard to care about things working out for her when she seemed to care so little for the lives of the people around her. While some of the other characters in the book were more likable, none of them were really given enough depth to save the book. The theme of forgiveness and family, and looking to make a better future, no matter your mistakes in the past, could have been hit a little harder and made this book much richer.

    I give this book 2 stars. I kept hoping that Ivy would get beyond herself to make some changes, and so I kept reading, but I wish there had been more.

    I received a copy of this book from Zondervan, in exchange for my honest review.
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